'The Shrouds', technological prophecies and Cronenberg's existential reflections

Love and death are nothing new in Cronenberg's cinema (one thinks of 'Inseparable', a film that often comes to mind during viewing), as is the presence of food - the cemetery stands next to a restaurant - and sex as a form of liberation but also of guilt.

Cronenberg recounts a 'credible dystopia' with this film, which reflects on the increasingly extreme contemporary obsession with filming and archiving every image available to us, but does not limit itself to this and also reflects on artificial intelligence and its increasingly humanising forms.

Technological prophecies of which the director has always been a master - one thinks of 'Videodrome' (1983) or 'eXistenZ' (1999) - and which here are linked, a bit like in 'Crimes of the Future', to possible global conspiracies and paranoia that can also make us think back to 'The Naked Lunch'.

Despite an ending that is not as incisive as the rest of the film and a little too much confusion in the screenplay, 'The Shrouds' remains one of those existential and philosophical films that can shake you up, a journey into darkness made by a director who is over 80 years old and who proves once again to be one of the youngest minds in world cinema.

Between hints of Hitchcockian flavour and moments of great formal elegance, Cronenberg signs a sort of self-analysis session, painful and capable of delving deep into his own mind and that of us spectators.

Also in competition was 'The Apprentice', a new film by Tehran-born 1981 director Ali Abbasi, who returns to the Croisette two years after 'Holy Spider'.

At the centre of this new film is the story of Donald Trump's rise to power during the 1970s and 1980s: more than the story of the young entrepreneur, however, it is above all the story of the relationship between him and the controversial lawyer Roy Cohn, who mentored him to be able to understand - and overcome - certain 'mechanisms' of the laws and American society.

Now in his fourth feature film, Abbasi raises the bar of ambition with this film that is in effect a coming-of-age story about how one can become powerful in the United States, but also a shadow analysis of the early career of Trump, a rampant unscrupulous entrepreneur who will soon realise how Cohn's lessons are crucial to success.

Filmed with good stylistic maturity, "The Apprentice" is an interesting film in terms of the rhythm of the story and the narrative methods, with the exception of a few overly hasty passages and a sense of having already seen the dynamics of the relationship that develops between the two main characters. A few too many simplifications are present, but it is striking that it is not (only) a biographical feature film: 'The Apprentice' is above all a film about an individual to describe several decades of American history, of which Abbasi shows more the vices than the virtues.

Remarkable performance by Sebastian Stan who confirms his excellent form after his fine performance in 'A Different Man', seen a few months ago at the Berlin Film Festival